


Schisms

by QuilSniv



Series: Tales from the Friendly Neighborhood [1]
Category: Iron Man (Comics), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thunderbolts (Comics)
Genre: F/M, FNSM Universe, Norman Osborn is a psychopath, Peter and Tony are both right, They're also both wrong, civil war never happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-04-22 14:43:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14310948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuilSniv/pseuds/QuilSniv
Summary: Set in the Friendly Neighborhood Universe, around two years before the start of the series. (Annie is a couple months old at this point.)Tony and Peter discuss Norman Osborn's placement on the Thunderbolts and the Fifty State Initiative. Things go south fast.





	Schisms

“I… God, Tony, you have no idea how mad I am.” Peter glared at Tony as he de-armored in the hangar bay of Avenger Tower. He knew it was just for show; he could have brought Peter to the Helicarrier. (After all, he was the Director of SHIELD.) No, this was Tony Stark’s domain. He wanted Peter here, to make sure that he knew his place in the conversation.

Unfortunately for Tony, Peter didn’t care about the finer dynamics of conversation.

“How could you let him in on your Initiative program?!” Peter yelled, slamming his fist into the side of the Quinjet. Tony knew that punch. One without holding back, enough to nudge the jet a few inches and put a nice dent in the hull. “ _Norman Osborn! The Green Goblin!_ You put him in charge of the **_Thunderbolts_**?!”

“Nice hole you put in the side of my jet. That’s about 20,000 dollars you owe me, sport.”

“Don’t try to avoid me on this, Tony.” Peter’s voice was dangerously low. It only got that way when he was royally pissed off. “You can’t escape your problems by putting a bill in people’s faces.”

Tony ignored him, choosing to move the conversation anyways. The setting changed from the hangar to his office just next to it, Peter following.

“This is amazingly stupid, Tony! No, Tony, listen to me, dammit!” Peter yelled as he chased Tony into his office. “Listen, I’ve fought Osborn a dozen times, at least! You’ve fought him, Tony! You know how dangerous he is! Now you’re letting him become the leader of the Thunderbolts, of all teams?!”

“Peter, shut up and listen!” It was the first time Peter had heard Tony snap at him. It was sort of frightening. But he’d be over it the next time it inevitably happened. “Listen, Norman’s Thunderbolts placement wasn’t just my decision. It was a joint panel, and they think he’s in control, not the Goblin persona.” Peter watched Tony move over to the window, sighing as he lifted the blinds. The bands of sunlight burst into the run, temporarily blinding both.

“They’ve run about fifteen psychological exams. If the Goblin persona isn’t gone, it’s doing a damn good job of hiding. And **_that’s_ ** not counting the dozen or so explosive implants we have in his body.” Tony moved over to Peter, the sunlight radiating on both of them as he put his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Trust me, as much as I don’t want the Green Goblin leading the Thunderbolts, he’s proving himself a bit more trustworthy with every op.”

“Yeah, but _you_ don’t have a wife and newborn baby to protect.” Peter’s voice was firm. Tony was expecting this; he was disappointed that Peter wouldn’t see his point of view, but he wasn’t surprised either. “Maybe when you have something to lose besides money, you’ll start seeing things from where I’m standing.”

Tony’s face soured. He needed a drink. Screw his sobriety, he needed a drink. “Peter, don’t be _petty_. You think I didn’t try to fight this with the panel? I know how dangerous he is; the implants were my compromise for letting him on that team. The Fifty-State Initiative is understaffed, we have quotas to fill, and reformed supervillains are our best bet to fast-tracking that quota.”

“Screw your Initiative!” Peter barked, roughly poking Tony in the chest with his right index finger. “Norman Osborn has had chance after chance to change! So have you! If it was something you truly cared about, you would throw enough money at the problem that it just went away! I guess entrusting the Thunderbolts to a madman wasn’t important enough to you!”

Peter’s finger lifted from Tony and went straight to a photograph on the bookshelf off to their right. On it sat a photo. Tony and a woman of Asian descent. They looked happy; a far cry from the situation around the photo.

“Remember Rumiko, Tony? _**Do you**_?”

“Every day, Peter. Where are you? —”

“How would you feel if one day… I dunno, who’s high-profile enough for you to give a crap? How would it feel if one day Grey Gargoyle decided to throw Rumiko off a bridge? Just to get at you? Yeah, you’d throw everything you had at some guy to make sure he never got to see the light of day again!” Peter’s blood was boiling, as he moved over towards the desk and rested his weight on it. “But I guess Goblins and Gargoyles don’t have nearly the same value, hmm?”

No response.

“Nothin’? That’s what I thought. See you, Tony.” Moving towards the window, Peter moved to put on his mask.

But Tony Stark was a man determined to win.

No matter the subject matter, he had to have the last word.

Even if it meant cutting open old scars.

Without even thinking, he blurted out, “You know why you want Osborn dead and not Doc Ock?! Not Electro, or FAÇADE?!” Peter stopped dead in his tracks, the light keeping Tony from seeing the glare on his face. “It’s because Stormin’ Norman got a piece of Gwen and you didn’t!”

In what amounted to one giant blur, Peter had stormed over to Tony and brought his fist across Tony’s face. Enough blood came out of his mouth that something got knocked loose. Probably one of his molars.

The next thing he knew, Tony was slammed against the wall of his own office, Peter lifting him up a good foot off the ground.

“ ** _Shut up!_** ” Peter roared, tightening his grip on Tony’s shirt. “Just… stop. Right now.”

Tony’s face turned stone cold in apathy. “I could have you arrested, Peter. You just attacked the Director of SHIELD. Aggravated assault has a hefty jail time attached.” Peter’s face furrowed to match Tony’s suave apathy.

“Yeah, well, you always did have a punchable face.” With that, Peter dropped Tony, who took a subtle breath of relief as Peter turned away, picking up his mask as he moved towards the window again.

And once again, Tony Stark had to have the last word.

“I was grooming you to be my heir, Peter! All of this?!” He gestured to the various office décor. “This could all have been _**yours** _ if you had just been willing to play along!”

Peter glared at Tony, contempt the only thing left in his eyes. “Who wants to be the heir of a lifetime of mistakes and self-destruction? And who would want to play with a system that wants to control us to get that life?” The mask came on all the way this time, pure-white lenses the only sign of emotion on his face. “I’m out, Tony. Don’t you ever come near me or my family. **_Ever again_**.”

A moment of silence passed as Peter—no, Spider-Man, --opened the window to make his exit and hop onto the vibranium-laced frame. Then, Peter broke the silence of the dark and dreary room.

“Oh, and for the record?”

Tony looked over and could have sworn he saw a winning smirk on Peter’s face. The mask did little to hide it.

“I was _always_ the better teen hero.”

As Peter swung away into the maze of buildings, Tony growled in anger.

As of now, Spider-Man was a danger to the people of New York.


End file.
